The Memphis appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1886-1890, 1887-04-17

She has worked nc four trades, al
sewing, but can now find no work o
any kind.
| NJ. X, Of the Minories, is a goo
instance of city" sewing woman
She is unmarried, and lives alone i
a room, for which she pays Is. I'd
| go cents) a week.
By looking over her employer
books | found that her average wage
/ tor the last three months had bee
Is. I'd. ($l 90) a week. She has ha'
ten weeks work out of the las
twelve. She spends under f2 (sl0)
year on dress, and lives ON 6s. I'd.
week all told. She managed, there
fore, to save Is. (25 cents) weel
when in work. She eats no meat
Tea aud bread are eaten twice a day
Tea, bread and either fish or cheese
form the other two meals wheT
finances allow the latter luxuries
She goes to church on Sunday bu
has no other relaxations.
Among the upholsterers | found a
decided unwilingness to describe
their work aud pay, because some
one will know | told you, aud then
they won't give me no work any
more as one of TIE upholsterer'
said to me.
A. NJ, Of High street, Camden
Town, will serve as a type of the best
hand worker. She is unmarried; has
worked for twenty.siS years for
prominent West End dealers. She
said.
II have these two rooms, for
which | pay 6 shilliugs a week, My
mother, who is rs yeats old, lives
with me, but earns nothing. | earn
Is shillings (S3 75) q week, and on
this we both live. For twenty six
years | have never had a week s
holiday. As a result Of tweuty.six
years work l have saved nothing,
and now owe GO for rent. This is in
spite of the fact that have sold from
time to time part Of my mothers
household goods TO pay rent. Trade
is bad, but not at its worst. January
to the LIST of March is the dull sea
SOD, and it is frightful time Tor up
holsterers. l live as all other sew
ers live-largely on bread and tea.
Work is becoming hard to get.
Young women with young eyes are
preferred by employers, even when
they have had no experience. When
we are old we must go to the work
house. expect to 40 to the work
house myself, althOughl would rather
70 to the bottom Of the canal. have
kept my mother away from the poor
house, however.
Il am glad the socialists smashed
the store windows last fall. 1t did
more good than harm, People do
not object to our starving so long as
we starve quietly. SO it is well to
make row once in while"
DREssMAKERs AND hILLlNERs.
The society of dressmakers, mil
liners and mantlemakers has only
thirty, four members, and has never
had more than 100. A forewoman
who has spent her lite in efforts to
aid the workers in these trades has
given me the following facts:
We are the largest body OF female
workers in London, but we are so
split up into sections by class feelings
and jealousies that we cannot organ
ize any large union. Indoor workers
will not associate with outdoor work
ers.' Workers on fine goods despise
workers on coarse goods, and will not
even belong to the different branches
of the same society.
Indoor workers are those women
who live in barracks provided by the
firm. They are paid by the year
from ZIG to 922 ($SJ to $40, with
board and lodging, They work from
s:30 am. to 6 p m, with considerable
overtime during the ball season. In
siders are fairly well fed, aud the
dormitories are comfortable enough
now. From four to ten women sleep
in room. Many large shops provide
sitting room with q piano and
library. The sexes are not allowed
to mingle at all in these rooms Most
of the large shops on Oxford and
Regent streets are managed in this
way. Their work rooms are often
unhealthy and badly lighted, but
their employees have constant work,
with Some amusement and comfort.
1t is the outworkers who suffer most,
0utworkers either work by the week
in the shop, sleeping at home, or else
take piece work to their homes.
They earn from IS to 20s q week.
Germans have lately introduced
the sweating system into the West
End, and wages have begun to fall in
consequence.
The tailoresses have $50 members
in their society, but their East End
branch has only eighty members.
Trade is in q wretched condition,
and foreigners working under the
sweating system have reduced wages
almost to starvation point in the
East End. In the West End it is
said to be the best paid woman's
trade in London. Wages there run
from 9s to 25s q week. Rents are
very high, however, and the women
must live near their work. The
progress Of tailOress or shirtmaker
from fine work and short hours,
while her eyes are good, to coarse
work and q wretched lodging house
as she grows old was quite graphical
ly told to me by woman who knows
the ms and outs Of these trades.
This is said to be the universal his
tory of London needle women. There
is no place in the business for old
women or old eyes, so it is o progress
from bad pay to worse, and from dis
comfort 70 wretehedness, with the
workhouse as an ending.
The women book binders also live
wretchedly. The work 10 mainly
piece work, and is done under q
middle man or sweater. The pay
ranges from u to lbs q week. Fit
teen shillings week is the average
through the trade.
[Readers of the APPEAL who i'm
agine that the misery depicted by
the Herald correspondent has no
parallel in this country will do well